Whitsun Bank Holiday Getaway

ABTA estimates that 1.9 million British holidaymakers are set to leave the country this bank holiday weekend [27-30 May], which also coincides with school half term.

Spain remains firmly on the top spot with the Canary and Balearic islands leading the way. For long haul travellers Dubai and Florida have sold well.

City breaks are perfect for a long weekend and the top 5 city destinations are Amsterdam, Paris, Dublin, Rome and New York.

High numbers will be flying out of the South East with 400,000 from Heathrow, 275,000 Gatwick, 161,000 from Stansted and 120,000 from Luton.

From the North and the Midlands, over 140,000 will leave from Manchester airport and 60,000 from Birmingham. It will be a busy weekend for all the Scottish airports, with tens of thousands due to fly away including, 37,000 from Glasgow, and 54,000 from Edinburgh.

Other regional airports and ferry terminals will also be very busy and 90,000 will be heading under the channel on the Eurostar.

Mark Tanzer ABTA Chief Executive said: “Now that the threat of the ash cloud has lifted I am delighted that hundreds of thousands of our customers will be able to take advantage of the long weekend as they head off overseas.”